Rory McIlroy bounced back from the nightmare finish to his opening round on day two of the prestigious Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.
It was a tougher day for his compatriots Seamus Power and Shane Lowry in Ohio, with Waterford's Power slipping back to one-under for the tournament after a one-over-par 73.
Lowry got off to a disastrous start with three bogeys in the first four holes and a double at the fifth before eventually carding a four-over 76 to leave him at one-over for the tournament
Just two days after tournament host Jack Nicklaus had lamented McIlroy's occasional lapses in concentration, the four-time major winner carded a triple bogey on the 18th to card a level-par 72.
"I don't know whether his is a constant lack of being able to keep that concentration for the whole thing or not, because sometimes he (goes) par, par, par, double, eight," Nicklaus said in his pre-event press conference.
"He does that sometimes."
It was not an eight on Thursday but a nevertheless destructive seven on the par-four 18th, where his drive finished in deep rough on a steep side slope.
McIlroy could only hack his ball almost sideways into more rough and he caught a flier with his third before taking four shots to get down from the back of the green.
"I felt good about everything that I did yesterday," McIlroy said today, after carding six birdies and two bogeys in a second round of 68.
"I got one bad break on 18 with that ball finishing on the bank of the bunker. So I really feel like I'm one shot out of leading this golf tournament.
"(If) that rolls down into the bunker, hopefully I'm able to hit it on the green and make a four and instead of standing here at four under I would be at seven under and feeling really good about everything.
"I felt like I did a lot of really good things yesterday and I did a lot of good things right, so I can't let that one sort of unlucky break sort of hide the fact that everything else was working pretty well."
Beginning on the 10th, McIlroy avoided trouble on the 18th on Friday, capping a two-under par outward nine with a par. He shot the same on the way back, with birdies on the 1st, 7th and 8th to leave him in the mix heading into the weekend.
At four under par McIlroy was four shots off the lead held by American Justin Suh who rose nine places with a 66 for the day.
Behind him in second was Hideki Matsuyama, the former Masters champion who carded a superb bogey-free 65 to finish on seven under par.
Americans Patrick Cantlay and David Lipsky finished tied third, one stroke behind Matsuyama.
Lowry steadied the ship after giving five shots back to the course in his first six holes. Birdies at six, seven and the par-five 11th briefly had him back under par.
However a triple bogey at the treacherous par-three 12th undid his good work. Finding the bunker with his tee shot, his second shot found the water on the other side of the green.
